I used to think that 14.Nxb5 gave black a slight edge or at least equality, and white's way to go was 14.c3. However, dominickmazzotta kept playing this line against me and won all 3-4 games we had in this variation!! I just don't understand (though again there is a huge rating difference between him and me ;-) ).

One recent game with him in this line (me black of course) continued : 14.Nxb5 Bg7 15.Nc3 e4 16.Bc4 Ng6 17.Qh5 Bxc3 18.bxc3 Qf6 19.Qh6 Rg8 20.Ra-e1 Ke7 21.Re-b1 Ra7 22.Rb6 Qh4 23.Qe3 Rc7 24.g3 Qh3 and at this point I was sitting happily think this could be my first win against Dom or I AT LEAST have a draw. Then the master came up with 25.Rf-b1!! a move I did not anticipate at all but realised soon after that I was toast!! Anyway, the game continued 25...Ne5 26.Bf1 Qh5 27.Be2 Qh3 28.Rxa6 Rg6 29.Ra8 Kf6 30.Rd8 Kg7 31.Rb-b8 and I resigned.

My first question, where did I go wrong in this game?

My more important question, for 12.0-0, is there something else that black can play? I don't wish to play 10....Bg7. I prefer playing the immediate 10....f5 as against the 12.0-0 line I play 12....Rg8 and not Bg7. After this game, I think I tried 12.0-0 Rg8?! in my next game with Dom, but lost again!! So in my current game, I played 10....Bg7 :-(. Now we are in a very double edged position but I believe he has the edge. Even if I win this game with 10.....Bg7 (like that is going to happen when I haven't one a single game in over 30 games with him ;) ), I still wish to play 10....f5 from my next game again. So, any Pelikan player or Top player, please advice something against the 12.0-0 line.

nottop
119 ( +1 | -1 )Qh6 new moveThis looks like a new move to me - I cannot find it in books or dbf's. Many other options for white's 19th move are considered and none seems to give him much. I see the point of the move - and the game looked well-played. Of course you can also vary earlier - In the Yakovich book "The Complete Sveshnikov Sicilian"- he claims 16. .. Ng6 is best - but the lines given against 16. ...Qa5 don't appear to give white much. In "The Sveshnikov Sicilian" *(Krasenkov), he preferred Qa5 (although he also thought Ng6 was fine). There might be chances later - I like Rg8 but are you sure Ke7 is best? I looked a little at Qh4 - not to the extent a player would in a serious game - it looks to me like black has reasonable compensation with or without queens. One line I looked at ran 21. Qe3 Ne5 22.Be2 Rg6 23.Reb1 (for instance - and there are lots of other choices for both) - it looks like an interesting typical sort of Sveshnikov. I think that after Rg6 black should play for (at the appropriate time) Kf8 instead of Ke7. There are also lines where black can give up the a pawn to activate the queen rook (playing Rc8, Rc4) if white decides to win the a pawn black can hope the game will not be decided in the endgame. Just some ideas.

baseline
181 ( +1 | -1 )perhaps this will helpI've been playing the Sveshnikov for some time but have only encountered this line once and I had the white pieces. here is the game taken from my database if nothing else it will give you more info on the line.

drdesoto
95 ( +1 | -1 )I agree with Chris ...20 .. Ke7 doesn't look ideal to me, 20. ... Qh4 seems to be the better move though I don't play the variation with 10. ... f5. I agree that the King should move to g7 via f8 but the position isn't easy to play for black.

invincible1
22 ( +1 | -1 )thanks everyoneWent though all this analysis carefully. Yeah, maybe I should try something else instead of ....Bxd5 lines. And yes, now I realise, Ke7 was indeed amistake in this game. Thanks again for the time and effort